Corporate & Portfolio news

3i sells stake in Corpro to SCF Partners

17 May 2007

3i, Europe’s leading private equity and venture capital company, today announces the sale of its stake in Aberdeen based Corpro, an independent oilfield services company, to SCF Partners, a leading provider of private equity capital to the energy services and equipment industry.

Corpro is the leading independent provider of coring services to the oil and gas industry. Incorporated in 1988 in Scotland, Corpro deploys exclusive coring and core handling services for oil & gas wells during exploration and appraisal. These innovative technologies produce better and more cost effective output than other competitive systems, thereby optimising Corpro’s customer Formation Evaluation investment.

3i has been a major 49.5% shareholder and investor in Corpro since an MBO in March 1998. The funding enabled the company to strengthen its international presence and Corpro now operates in most major oilfield locations.

3i Director, Will Clark, commented “This has been an engaging and successful investment for 3i. We’ve been pleased to support the development and growth of the company, assisting Corpro’s excellent management team and helping to secure a new Chairman and key advisers. Going forward with SCF’s backing, we believe the business is in a strong position to benefit from the steady growth in the coring market.”

The coring market has risen steadily and through the deployment of its innovative solutions, Corpro has grown to become the leading independent supplier in its international market.

Pascal Bartette, CEO of Corpro added “We’re grateful for 3i’s support over the years and for the opportunity given to the management team to develop the business to a leading position in the coring market. We now look forward to the next phase of our development with the support of SCF.”

SCF has been providing capital and strategy growth assistance to build energy service and equipment companies with worldwide experience since 1989.

Andy Waite, Managing Director at SCF Partners, concluded: “We are excited about partnering with the Corpro team, whose innovative approach has successfully built an international business that can compete directly with the major service companies. The technologies, the people and their ability to anticipate new market demands will be the foundation for Corpro’s growth in the future.”

3i was advised by Maclay Murray and Spens and KPMG Aberdeen.

Notes to editors

About Corpro
Corpro is an independent oilfield service company incorporated in 1988 in Scotland. Since then, the company has developed its presence internationally and is now operating in most major oilfield locations.
Corpro is a Formation Evaluation company, which exclusively focuses on the Core. Unlike other major service companies, Corpro selected a vertical Integration of the Core business. This enables Corpro to offer a complete and integrated service to the core end users; beginning with the identification of the core as a proper means of formation evaluation, to the interpretation of the core analysis data and its correlation to other downhole measurements.
Corpro, thus, has become “The Core Company”, the only service provider able to offer a complete core service ranging from the ability to handle basic conventional coring to a complete Core Project where a specialised team manages and completes a core data acquisition program. www.corpro-group.com

About 3i

3i is a world leader in private equity and venture capital with operations in Europe, the United States and Asia. 3i is active across all stages of funding. From early-stage venture capital to growth capital, buyouts and infrastructure, 3i invests approximately €2bn a year in some of the most exciting and ambitious companies in the world. 3i is the only FTSE 100 company in its sector and has total funds under management of over £7.0bn (€10bn).
3i’s oil, gas & power team manage an investment portfolio valued at $1bn across the UK, Norway, USA and Singapore. The current portfolio includes Dockwise, the Dutch heavy transportation company; EDP, an oilfield development project manager and Noreco, a Norwegian independent exploration and production company. Successful realisations include Vetco Gray, sold to GE’s Oil & Gas division; Petrofac, the international oil and gas facilities service provider; Revus Energy, independent Norwegian upstream company; and CH4 Energy, a leading exploration and production company, acquired by Venture Production plc. www.3i.com